Women's responses to intimate partner violence in Rwanda: Rethinking agency in constrained social contexts
Women's responses to intimate partner violence in Rwanda: Rethinking agency in constrained social contexts
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DOI：
10.1080/17441692.2015.1013050
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发表时间：
2016-02-07
影响因子：
3.3
通讯作者：
Umutoni, Aline
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Mannell, Jenevieve;Jackson, Sharon;Umutoni, Aline
本文探讨了机构在妇女应对亲密伴侣暴力（IPV）在卢旺达的实例。关于妇女对IPV的反应的文献将代理主要概念化为个人通过报告暴力或离开关系采取行动的能力，模糊了妇女在不太可能报告或离开的情况下应对暴力的其他方式。我们的目标是用一种社会建构主义的观点来取代这种狭隘的代理概念，即关注女性对可能的IPV反应所赋予的意义。我们利用了卢旺达IPV研究的数据，其中包括对遭受暴力的妇女的半结构化访谈和与妇女社区成员的四次焦点小组讨论（n = 39）。我们的研究结果强调了社会文化、经济、政治法律和历史限制因素在这种背景下影响了女性的行为。关于这些制约因素，妇女描述了对IPV的四种可能反应：报告暴力行为；寻求情感支持；反抗暴力；或者保持沉默。在确定报告和离开暴力关系的同时，妇女还讨论了使这些行动极其困难的社会限制。在设计有效战略时，我们得出结论，公共卫生战略需要考虑妇女对其自身行动的理解，特别是在某些行动可能受到限制的社会环境中。
This paper explores instances of agency in women's responses to intimate partner violence (IPV) in Rwanda. The literature on women's responses to IPV conceptualises agency primarily as an individual's capacity to take action by reporting violence or leaving a relationship, obscuring other ways women may respond to violence in contexts where reporting or leaving are unlikely. We aim to replace this narrow conceptualisation of agency with a social constructivist focus on the meanings women attribute to possible IPV responses. We draw on data from a study of IPV in Rwanda, which includes semi-structured interviews with women experiencing violence and four focus group discussions with women community members (n = 39). Our findings highlight sociocultural, economic, political-legal and historical constraints that shape women's actions in this context. In relation to these constraints, women describe four possible responses to IPV: reporting the violence; seeking emotional support; fighting back' against violence; or remaining silent. While reporting and leaving violent relationships are identified, women also discuss the social constraints that make these actions extremely difficult. In designing effective strategies, we conclude that public health strategies need to consider women's understandings of their own actions, particularly in social contexts where certain actions may be constrained.